William Shakespeare Quotes on Man (261 Quotes)

Stay, my lord, And let your reason with your choler question What 'tis you go about to climb steep hills Requires slow pace at first anger is like A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way, Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England Can advise me like you be to yourself As you would to your friend.

What, courage, man What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.

My good Lord Archbishop, I am very sorry
To sit here at this present, and behold
That chair stand empty; but we all are men,
In our own natures frail and capable
Of our flesh; few are angels; out of which frailty
And want of wisdom, you, that best should teach us,
Have misdemean'd yourself, and not a little,
Toward the King first, then his laws, in filling
The whole realm by your teaching and your chaplains-
For so we are inform'd-with new opinions,
Divers and dangerous; which are heresies,
And, not reform'd, may prove pernicious.

Manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones, too.

There is an old poor man, .... Oppress'd with two weak evils, age and hunger.

The purest treasure mortal time afford Is spotless reputation that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.

Tempt not a desperate man.

Be bloody, bold, and resolute laugh to scorn the power of man.

He reads much; He is a great observer, and he looks; Quite through the deeds of men.

I am a man More sinned against than sinning.

FIRST CITIZEN Come, come, we fear the worst all shall be well. THIRD CITIZEN When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand When the sun sets, who doth not look for night Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. All my be well but if God sort it so. Tis more than we deserve, or I expect. SECOND CITIZEN Truly, the souls of men are full of dread Ye cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily and full of fear. THIRD CITIZEN Before the times of change, still is it so By a divine instinct mens minds distrust Ensuing dangers as, by proof, we see The waters swell before a boisterous storm.

How rarely does it meet with this time's guise,
When man was wish'd to love his enemies!

Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

The dozen white louses do become an old coat well;
it agrees well, passant; it is a familiar beast to man, and
signifies love.

Certain, men should be what they seem.

As in a theatre, the eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, Thinking his prattle to be tedious.

Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run
As it were doomsday.

Ah, he is young; and his minority
Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

What the declin'd is,
He shall as soon read in the eyes of others
As feel in his own fall; for men, like butterflies,
Show not their mealy wings but to the summer;
And not a man for being simply man
Hath any honour, but honour for those honours
That are without him, as place, riches, and favour,
Prizes of accident, as oft as merit;
Which when they fall, as being slippery standers,
The love that lean'd on them as slippery too,
Doth one pluck down another, and together
Die in the fall.

Here comes a man; let's stay till he be past.

If I know more of any man alive
Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,
Let all my sins lack mercy!

These banish'd men, that I have kept withal,
Are men endu'd with worthy qualities;
Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recall'd from their exile:
They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.

He was a man, take him for all in all.

Men at some time are masters of their fates.

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition By that sin fell the angels how can man, then, The image of his Maker, hope to win by it Love thyself last cherish those hearts that hate thee Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr Serve the king And,prithee, lead me in There take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny 'tis the king's my robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies.

What a piece of work is a man.

Therefore, when he sees reason of
fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish
as ours are; yet, in reason, no man should possess him with any
appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his
army.

Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, much more a man who hath any honesty in him.

All the world's a stage, and the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.

Thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.

Once more, my Lord of Winchester, I charge you,
Embrace and love this man.

A man of my kidney.

This man, lady, hath robb'd many beasts of their
particular additions: he is as valiant as a lion, churlish as the
bear, slow as the elephant-a man into whom nature hath so crowded
humours that his valour is crush'd into folly, his folly sauced
with discretion.

By heaven, I will,
Or let me lose the fashion of a man!

Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying!

Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search.

I'll never; Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand; As if a man were author of himself; And knew no other kin.

If I might teach thee wit, better it were,
Though not to love, yet, love, to tell me so,
As testy sick men, when their deaths be near,
No news but health from their physicians know.

He is as like thee as a man may be
Not like to me, or any of my kin,
And yet I love him.

The poor world is almost six
thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man
died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause.

I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at
it as any man in England.

Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank you; but
that they call compliment is like th' encounter of two dog-apes;
and when a man thanks me heartily, methinks have given him a
penny, and he renders me the beggarly thanks.

By heaven, I think there is no man is secure.

There's many a man has more hair than wit.

But pearls are fair; and the old saying is:
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.

O that a man might know The end of this days business, ere it come But it sufficeth that the day will end, And then the end is known.

O mischief, thou art swift; To enter in the thoughts of desperate men.

But these
are all lies: men have died from time to time, and worms have
eaten them, but not for love.

A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat
of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

I smell the blood of a British man.